Depression Support Group

If only I knew.....

Exercise worked. A sense of achievement through physical exertion seemed to drown my negativity.........at least for a temporary time.

i was just reading this article about mindful thinking, you might want to try it. im not very good at it, ut takes practice, but it can help some i think. gl.

http://combatsportpsychology.blogs...

I was just talking about this with my therapist last week and also took a "listen to your body" seminar and I understood that I wasn't being grateful enough for everything in my life, no matter how small it may seem.

My therapist gave me a couple of good tricks, hope this helps!
1. As soon as the negative thoughts intrude, and if you can, write down in a journal or something what you are grateful for today or in general or:
2. Repeat something positive like for me: love, gratitude, health, happiness - over and over and over. It kind of counteracts the thoughts in their track or something!
good luck!

i've thought about this alot and even practiced how to stop negativethinking.

ok, for instance, when i look at my messy house and i say in my head, "ill never get this all done". i switch my thinking, to , "well yes i can do a little bit".

jot down on a piece of paper how many times u say something negative to yourself in yourm mind.

now, would you say that to another person? probably not, right? so why do u say it to yourself.

treat urself like you would a child, envisiion yourself as a 7 yr. old, what ywould u tellthat child?

it's hard, but you can change your thought patterns around.

now it's different during times of depression, but as a general everyday, if ur feeling at least functional you can practice this. let me know how it goes. i think this is really important to accomplishing goals and having a good quality of life.

thanks for the post, and the rmeinder to treat oneself well.

wow.. great answers.. I think I will also practice up on these.. Im also working on baby steps..

Kick them out, one at a time.

Think something positive in their place.

Thanks everyone. As they say the power of positive thinking and I certainly can agree with that as over the years I have done lots of that. The loneliness is the killer and something that seems to hang on so with the loneliness comes the depression and then the negative thoughts roll in plus contributing to all of this is our own self worth and were we see ourselves.
Thank you all again for your replies, I love to hear others thoughts you all keep me going.

Have a GREAT day and remember
"Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle... "

Take Care

I have been working on the same thing. I am generally able to be very positive for other people but when I'm not focusing on something else, the negative thoughts kick in. I don't know what your background is, but my therapist and doctor say the negative thoughts are "the depression talking." I think it's true. I know when I'm not depressed, the negative thoughts don't beat me up so regularly.

I was also wondering, since you try so hard to make everyone else happy, are you over compensating? Meaning, it's ok not to always have the happy mask on if you don't feel that way. It seems like you try really hard to be positive for other people, you need to be nicer to yourself. Maybe letting some of the mask down at other times would help balance things out.

I have found that I try to please everyone, even when I want to scream and think they're being mean, I take it. I try to take the high road. But with myself, I can be quite negative. My brother suggested the rubber band on the wrist: when you hear yourself thinking the negative thought, snap your wrist and make yourself stop. Turn the negative into a positive. Or think about whether you really deserve the level of negative that you're thinking. Basically, try to redirect when you realize you're doing it.

I know it's much easier said than done. I am struggling with it now too.

Good luck.

I think everyone's answers here are awesome.

I have struggled with negative thinking for years and I so desperately want to change that so I can lead a happy productive life...Its definitely going to be tough since I have been beating myself up for years with my negative thoughts...

All of the suggestions have been really good...Thanks